James t



(No Model.)

J. T. SARGENT. WASHBOARD.

No. 508,346. Patented Nov. 7, 1893.

WITNESSES I a INVENTOR $.11) C Lu,qs 5a UNITED l STATES i PATENT OFF CE.

JAMES T. SARGENT, OF OLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN WASHBOARD COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WASH BOARD.

. I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,346, dated November '7, 1893.

Application filed June 17, 1893.

To all whom it may concern.- I

Be it known that I, JAMES T. SARGENT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented or discoveredcertain new and useful Improvements in Washboards, of which improvements the following is a specification.

' In an application filed June 30, 1892, Serial No. 438,620, I have described and claimed generically certainimprovements in washboards, consisting in the employment of the same spring for supporting the protector in a yielding manner in its open or elevated position, and, also, for holding the protector in its closed or folded position.

The present invention has for its object a specific arrangement or construction of the spring and its bearing toe, and it is a further object of this invention to provide metallic bearings for the journals on the ends of the protector.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure l is an elevation of a washboard having my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse, vertical section on the line 00, 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of the bearing toe. Figs. 4 and 5, show certain improvements in the journals of the bearings of the protector, and Fig. 6 isa detail view of the journal bearing for a single faced washboard.

In the practice of my invention the washboard is constructed in the usual, or any suitable, manner. On the upper corners of the protector 4, are formed journals 3, preferably integral with the protector. These journals 3 may be arranged in suitable sockets formed in the side bars 1 of the washboard, but are preferably arranged in metal rings 10, shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. For adouble faced washboard, two of these rings 10 are formed on opposite ends of a webll, thevweb and rings being cast integral with each other, and are held in position against the inner face of the side bar-1, by a'strip of wood 12, passing over the web, and nailed to theside bars, or they may be secured to the side bars in any other suitable manner. For single faced washsan'n No. 477,956. (No model.)

boards, the web 11 is provided with a bearing ring at one end only, as shown in Fig. 6, the web being held in position as above described, or in any other suitable manner.

On the under side of the protector 4, and preferably about midway of its length, is socured 'a fiat'spring 6, adapted to bear against the toe 5, which is secured to the under side of the head piece 7 of the washboard. This toe 5 is provided with flat, or approximately fiat, faces'a, 1), arranged at an angle to each other corresponding approximately to the angle formed by the planes passing through the protector in its operative or open, and closed or folded positions. The spring 6 is so secured to the protector 4, that the free end thereof will bear at all times against one or the other face of the too 5, and thereby hold the protector either in a raised or closed position, depending upon which face of the toe is in contact with the spring. As the protector is moved from either of its positions, the spring is placed under an increased tension by its passage over the apex c, at the junction of the fiat faces a and b, of the toe. This tension gradually increases as the protector is shifted, reaching its maximum when a line passing through the center of the movement of the protector and the apex of the toe is at right angles, or approximately so, with the spring 6. WVhen in this position, the protector is in equilibrium, and a slight movement thereof either up or down, thereby bringing the spring to bear on either side of the apex of the toe, the protector will be shifted by the action of the spring, to and held in, a closed or open position, dependent upon which side of the apex of the toe, the spring bears.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. In combination with a pivoted washboard protector, fixed pivotal'bearin gs for the protector, a yielding, resilient spring attached to the protector, and an operating toe or proj ection attached to the washboard, and adapt- -.edto engage a spring and be acted on with greatest effect while the protector is at or near either or both limits of its normal movement, substantially as set forth.

,In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES T. SARGENT.

Witnesses:

J. H. LOCKWOOD, Jr., E. C. HASTINGS. 

